Ok Ladies! This how us GA girls put up corn!
Some of my fondest memories of summertime in Georgia is the BEACH
and putting up corn and peas.
And when I say "Putting Up" I mean freezing them for the winter!
So, of course I had to carry on the tradition and teach my girls how to do it.
Mom had Stones Hardware, in Bainbridge GA, shipped us out 3 corn graters because you can't find them where we live. I have been trying to explain to my TX friends what a corn grater looks like and here y'all will get a first hand look at what they look like and how they work.
This is a long and hard process, but the rewards to our tummy after is sooooo goooood!
So lets get started....
Early Morning.... Which we didn't make it out there very early....
Pick your field or sweet corn! Strait from the field
The girls were terrified out in the middle of these stalks.
Ric told them on the way out to the field about a big black Bear that saw last week.
So that really helped!
But Papa did get some work out of them
Its like a Jungle out there!
Load them up Maddie.
As you see having girls requires a whole outfit and a American Girl Doll to go pick corn.
A boy would have jumped in the truck half dressed and ready to go.
Not mine????
Now you shuck the corn.
Ric is here cleaning all the shucks off the corn.
He is using the air compressor because it is easier, but they make brushes that do it too!
We had a assembly line, but of course after 5 minutes of work the
girls were tired and needed a break!
This reminds me so much of me and my cousins helping and
complaining for hours about putting up corn.
My mom and her twin sister my Aunt Linda would sit outside for hours cleaning corn. They would recruit us girls to help them and we would last all of a hour. I think we complained so much that they finally said just go play somewhere.... get away!!
I think I heard the quote a thousand times..."You like to eat it don't you"!
And in our defensive the gnats were horrible in GA! They were in your eyes, your nose, and if you talked to much (which I did) they would fly in your mouth!
That was the nice thing about putting up this corn, it was cool and no GNATS!
Our mess!
So after the corn is clean, put it directly into a cold ice chest and fill it full of cold water and ice!
The colder the corn the easier to put up..
Not sure why this is just what my grandma says??
Then you have this cute little baby arrange the corn for you.
Just kidding...
That was just a extra step that we were taking!
I think she ate off of every raw ear! Now you know what happens when anybody eats raw corn.
Needless to say, we had a huge mess the next day!
Keep the corn in cold water when you are trying to grade it.
Here is the grater.
Put a pan or bowl underneath this grater to catch all the corn.
You want to run the corn ear up and down the grater blade. But be careful...
It will catch you fingers, and believe me I torn my thumbs up!
Mom and I did this part, the girls couldn't do this!
As you move the corn ear up and down the grater
turn the ear making sure to get each side of the ear.
After all the corn is off, take a spoon and scrape the corn ear to get the remaining off of the ear.
Here is a better picture of the grater.
This will make a mess so get ready! Corn splatters everywhere!
But once again.. watch your thumbs.
Here is our ears after they have been grated!
Pile them up and feed them to the cows.
Now take the corn out of the bowl and pour about 2 cups in a zip lock bag
(depending on the size of your bag). Lay the bag down flat and as
my mom says "Burp the bag"
Not sure where in the Hell this saying came from but it basically
means take all the air out of the bag.
Then make sure the bag is sealed!! This could be tragic if all that corn spills out in your freezer!
Work so hard and spilled in a minute!
Not sure how many grated corn ears per bag?? But I know it takes a lot to get anywhere!
But like a said before, a lot of hard work but so worth the effort!
And you can do sweet corn the same way!
To cook this.....
I will blog later but I promise it is very easy or I wouldn't do it!
